The Ravens have agreed to terms with Marcus Williams. The standout safety will leave New Orleans and head to Baltimore on a whopping five-year, $70MM deal (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler). NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero adds that the contract includes $37MM in guaranteed money (Twitter link). 
Williams, 26 in September, played on the tag last season after attempts to reach a long-term agreement came up short. The Saints still wanted to hammer out a long-term extension this time around, but their cap situation did not cooperate.
Last year, Williams posted a career-high 74 tackles to go along with two interceptions and eight pass breakups. He also made some serious strides in coverage, allowing a sub-50% completion rate for the first time in his career. Williams also added two interceptions, bringing his career tally to 15.
Baltimore was likely to be in the market for a new safety. They were frequently named as a potential suitor for Tyrann Mathieu, among other options who were available. With incumbent DeShon Elliott a pending free agent, it is not surprising the Ravens have made the investment in Williams. The former is a well-respected member of the defense, but injuries have been a constant throughout his four-year career. That, coupled with Williams’ skillset lending itself more naturally to a true free safety role, make this a logical move.
With Williams in place, the Ravens’ secondary still includes All Pro corners in Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters. At an average of $14MM per season, on the other hand, this deal adds considerably to the finances Baltimore has invested on the back end of its defense. It will also eat up nearly all of the cap space the team had manufactured recently, leaving them just short of the cap ceiling. Still, the deal should help give a boost to the team’s disappointing pass defense from last season.
Nice great pickup for us
That’s a great signing. They need to bolster their pass rush now.
That’s the double edged sword for Baltimore. They needed safety and pass rush help and in a vacuum this signing is great but it greatly diminishes their ability to bolster the pass rush. Gotta figure they’re gonna draft a DE or OLB early but they still need some help on the OL and at WR too. Plenty of talent on the team to compete and contend for the division but serious lack of depth on the roster particularly in the trenches.
Apparently they used up their cap space…So, in order to do that they’ll either have to redo/”extend” some contracts, or this is actually a great draft for teams with needs on the Edge.
Even as far as the third round, a team will be able to get a pass rusher that can contribute immediately, and I’m sure that will be cheaper than either renegotiating a contract and kicking salary down the road. That always eventually catches up to every team, so it is best to strictly only do that under certain necessary circumstances..
He will be missed, but no Saints fan will ever forget his boneheaded attempt at tackling Diggs on the last play of the 2018 NFC Divisional game.
If the $70M eats up all the cap space, this would imply we are solving for C with Colon or Merkari and DL through the draft, and both ILB and OLB still question marks. Curious to see how EDC solves.